Ausini 25004 Not Lego Freight Train Set Review

Hey All, it's time for another look at another Not Lego building block set.  This time, I did a picture dump of the Ausini brand 25004 Freight Train.

 I actually bought this off Aliexpress quite a few months ago, maybe even a year ago.  Just never got around to building it.  It's a fairly large set that consists of a train locomotive and two small flatbeds to carry a couple of cargo containers.  Also featured is the cargo crane with moveable winch and control cabin.  Finally, you also get a tractor trailer with flatbed carrier.  In total, there are 792 pieces to this set.

 Oh, I also forgot to mention you get quite a bit of track as well. You get ten pieces of straight track and two pieces of curved track.  The train only takes up about four or five sections of track, so you get to move it around on all the track.  Note that Ausini track only has the single railroad ties and not the double ties you get with Lego train sets.  Also, the Ausini tracks are a light gray colour, whereas Lego tracks are usually dark gray.

 Here's all the bags of parts.  You get the instruction manual and a sticker sheet, and some tools still on the plastic tree.

 Assembly is easy using the manual and brick clutch is very good.  Bricks are not scratched either.

 In no time at all, I completed assembly of the locomotive.  It's fairly symmetrical on the front and back.

There are two cabins in the forward and rear parts of the train.  Access is by simply lifting the nose piece on either end.  There are also several doors along the side of the engine.

 Here's one of the cargo containers on the rail car.  This one is red and it comes with stickers, which I didn't put on it.  The containers don't come off the rail cars easily, as it attaches using all the studs.  I'm gonna replace some of the plate pieces to make removal easier.  The red cargo container has a bar attached so the crane can hook it off the railcar.  I don't know why but Ausini, didn't put one on the orange cargo container.

 Here's the orange cargo container.  It comes with some printed pieces, so I don't know why they couldn't have done the same for the red container, instead of providing stickers.

Here's a look at the completed train with locomotive and the two rail cars.  If it was up to me, I would prefer that the cargo containers were just one colour, either red or orange, but not both.

 The train rolls along the provided track very smoothly and the magnets that attach to each railcar have a good hold.   Here's the train pulling up to the cargo crane and getting offloading the containers, well one anyways.

The cargo winch is quite strong and you can roll it up or down using the gear mechanism.

 The crane operator cabin slides along the top of the beams for precise offloading.

Here's the overhead view.

 Almost forgot about these guys.  You get four Lego compatible minifigures, however they are all the same.  Their faces are pretty dopey looking, so I'll probably yank their heads off and replace them.  They all have orange shirts with blue overalls and a red cap that says CITY.  They get to use some tools like a pickaxe, a saw, and other tools.

 I was just testing out the placement of the yellow pieces on the rail cars to see which would hold the cargo containers better.  The red one has the proper placement as per the manual.

 Here's the tractor trailer.  A fairly sturdy build.

The trailer detaches from the cab and you can lower the struts to hold it up.

 It has a pretty good turning radius.  Both cargo containers will fit on the trailer at the same time.

 This pic is just to show the scale of the cargo terminal and one of the worker bees.

The operator cabin has good views all the way around.  The winch motor is attached to the back of the cabin and both of them slide on the beam.   It's got lights so they can still work in the dark.

Here's a look at the winch.

 An overhead view of the cargo terminal.

 Finally, this is how you get into the operator cabin.

Conclusion:

The Ausini 25004 Cargo Train building set is quite a large build that will keep you occupied for a few hours.  The play value is excellent with the inclusion of the cargo terminal and tractor trailer.  I would have liked some variety in the minifigures but I have lots of other ones from other sets I can use.
As mentioned before the Ausini brick quality and clutch is very good.  I didn't have any missing or defective pieces.

This is my second Ausini train set and I'm very happy to have it in my collection. Looking back at my notes, I paid approx $40 USD for this set shipped.

I reviewed the Ausini passenger train here:  https://bricksandfigs.blogspot.ca/2015/04/ausini-25903-passenger-train-part-one.html.

I now have a total of four trains in my collection now:  The Enlighten freight locomotive 627, the Ausini 25903 Passenger train and the Lepin Horizon Express.

Thanks for looking!